1DanS

Size? Can you see a cut/shear line? thanks

1 5/8"

7/8"

thanks

If it is legit, the marble count seems a little odd, Most of the older advertising bags I have seen have had 13 (for a game of ringer) or 14 marbles (if they included a shooter). thanks

You are correct on both points Steph. M.F.C. did cease their marble making process in 1917. However, if we could look at it a little more in depth, we may find they did stay in business for a few more years in order to sell off any and all remaining inventories, ie: marbles, glass, machines and/or parts etc. before closing their doors for good. As for the Akro patent, I was only trying to point out that the era of the completely automated, machine made marbles, had arrived. Ann: No documents that I can find. thanks

Thanks for your research and help Craig. We may have a discussion here. Hopefully, it will stay just that. More theory: For all intents and purposes most of the major marble making companies were done in the mid to late 1940's and by the early 1950's out of business. The U.S. could have bought their older machines and glasses and sent them overseas. IMO the only true "transitional" marbles, hand-gathered, hand cut and machine rounded were produced by the M.F.C company. M.F.C closed in 1921 due to a couple of factors, a shortage of natural gas and the invention of the marble making machine. The "9" and tail effect: Think of a teardrop of two different molten glasses hanging off a putny rod directly over the moving rollers. The "pointy end" of the teardrop was cut and when landing on the rollers created the tail by wrapping the glass around the marble. The two types of mixed glass, when landing on the rollers may have created the unintentional "9". In 1915 Akro patented a hand fed semi-automatic machine. The glass was hand-gathered, but the marbles were machine cut and rounded. Other companies may have followed the trend and come up with their own version of this type of machine. Therefore, by the early 1920's the making of true "transitional" marbles made after say 1920 would not have been timely nor cost effective. Where were all of these "transitional" marbles 20, 15, or even 10 years ago? If you could find them, you could have bought them for pennies on the dollar. Then someone comes along and slaps the term transitional on them and bang, prices increase and more and more start showing up (much like the James Leighton marbles). Perhaps with the increase in price and demand they started coming to the U.S. from overseas and Canada(?). As far as how corkscrews were made Galen, I don't have a clue, All I can say is how did this become these?

Thank you for your response, however, at this time there are no facts to my theory. thanks

After WWII the U.S., in order to help rebuild the Japanese and German economies, sent them old marble making machines and certain amounts of glass. This of course, would not have restored the countries' wealth, but rather would have helped in putting people back to work and somewhat helping their economies. Remember, marbles were still very popular in the late 1940's. These machines would have been very simple, two stream gob feeders, with the feeder placed directly over the rollers. Two types of glass were used at one time. They would have been two opaque colors and the other being a transparent color and opaque white. The two streams of molten glass was mixed, cut, and dropped directly onto the spinning rollers. This process would have caused the "9" and tail as seen in these marbles. The "pontil" or more accurately the cut/shear mark would have been caused by dull shear blades and/or the temperature of the molten glass. The marbles were only sold in the Asian and European markets and not exported to the U.S. Therefore, no need for the boxes being marked "Made in Japan" or "Made in Germany". These marbles were completely machine made with no hand-gathering involved. Therefore, they should not be considered nor referred to as transitionals. Thank you for reading the ramblings of a crazy man. thanks

"Dan why do you say they are not transitional. They are definitely hand gathered and machine rounded IMO." I just have a theory about these types of marbles, however I have no proof nor evidence to back up my thinking. thanks.

I would agree with Japan, possibly Germany. And IMHO these are not transitionals. thanks

thanks

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-8-Christensen-Agate-Guinea-Marble-/121586429081?ssPageName=ADME%3AB%3AWNA%3AUS%3A1653&nma=true&si=Fwcc9wl3VMr3cHygEIhjVJT5kDI%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Very nice onionskin. Would you consider it a "Clown" type? thanks

I would be a little leery about this bag. Poor graphics and way to much info. I have not seen a bag with the marble company's name and city and state where it was made. Don't think the "kids" would need or want to know that. Just my opinion. thanks

one more; thanks

nuther;

here's one.

Sizes please. thanks

Looks like one heck of an auction! http://www.auctionzip.com/cgi-bin/auctionview.cgi?lid=2329489&fe=1306482&txtSearchKeywords=marbles&txtSearchZip=44310&idxSearchCategory=0&txtSearchRadius=0 your welcome, good luck!

At first look, the duller, more muted colors, made me think Sunbursts. Although that might be a Sparkler in the top row. Taking a second look, that is a rather strange assortment and arrangement of marbles for an Akro box. Even with the larger corks, the non blue/red ones seem to be out-of-place to me. No expertise, just an opinion. thanks

They all look like Sunbursts from here. thanks

Don't know if Dave was kidding or not, but my marble bag/sack was a sock. Made one heck of a weapon too when the older kids tried to steal your marbles. thanks.

Filament Core, and it does appear to be greenish in color. Also has a "larger" piece of mica. thanks

I believe it is a "newer" marble also. thanks.